Jonathan Nolan on 'Person of Interest' Season 3, 'Batman/Superman' film

Share this:

“Person of Interest” is getting a strong dose of girl power in Season 3. Recurring stars Amy Acker and Sarah Shahi were both promoted to series regulars, meaning that their characters Root and Shaw will have much more significant roles when the series comes back in Fall 2013.

Zap2it caught up with co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan at San Diego Comic-Con, and asked him why he and Greg Plageman felt the need to up the female cast in Season 3. According to him, fans can thank his wife Lisa Joy.

“My wife was like, ‘What’s going on? We need some more strong women on the show,'” he admits. “Taraji Henson brings all the girl power you need right off the bat, but we had a chance first with Amy at the end of Season 1 and throughout Season 2 and now making her a regular for Season 3, she’s a fantastic actress.”

He continues, “Sarah Shahi came to our show last season. … We always knew that we wanted something of a foil for Reese, someone who brought to the table kind of the same skill set, and the idea that would be what would [happen] was too good to pass up.”

According to Nolan, Shahi and Acker’s full time statuses won’t change the dynamic of “Person of Interest” in Season 3. In his words, “they already have.”

“The question with Root is we’ve seen her for two seasons now as a bad guy, but I think even towards the end of the season last year you can realize that her agenda aligns with Finch’s in many ways,” he says. “The question of what a bad guy is becomes a little more complicated when you realize that the government is spying on everyone. In light of that, we think we have some really, really cool dramatic territory to explore with Root.”

As for Shaw, Nolan teases, “Just how cozy she feels with those guys is one question, and her personality and her methodology is a little different even than Reese’s. She’s pretty dangerous.”

Nolan has a working relationship with his brother Christopher Nolan and helped write the screenplays for “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” With Warner Bros.’ recent announcement that Batman will be resurrected for a crossover film with Superman, Nolan made it pretty clear he wouldn’t be involved.

“The fun thing about working with such an iconic character is you know when you’re doing it that at some point you’re going to wrap up your story and see what the next fella down the line has to say about it, so I’m very excited to see what they do with him,” he says.